Cayambe

Let´s get everyone up to date... I am posting this from the town of Cayambe, a few of us (mostly me) got sick last night so Jose Louis thought it wise to drive down to 9500 feet and spend the night, it did wonders and in a few minutes we will be driving back to the Refugio on Cayambe. Now... What happened before we (ok I) got sick... Before driving up to Cayambe, we spent the morning at the local market and bought souvenirs. Dennis and I picked up some Panama Hats, and I bought some cute outfits for my kids. We also went and listened to a local famous band play some traditional flutes and these 10 and 15 string guitars. (Dennis of course bought this really nice 15 string guitar and case.) We then drove up the the Refugio on Mt. Cayambe, it was about a 2 hr total drive since the road is made of cobblestones. After arriving we hiked up to 16,000 feet and had to climb back down with headlamps. We had a great dinner! It was really tasty and everyone felt great. Then on Thursday (ground hog day) I awoke with a splitting headache and tossed by cookies a few times and spent the entire day feeling really bad... I couldn´t´t eat. The weather outside was awful, the team that attempted the summit the night before had to turn around because of high winds and sleet. They looked bad. Because of the winds and rain we decided to do the rope practice inside so we tied knots, and everyone (except me) climbed up a rope with the prussics. After dinner which was amazing (although I didn´t´t eat any of it) was fresh roasted turkey, avocado, soup, and since I left to go to bed I didn´t´t see the dessert (which was lemon pound cake the day before). Ok, se we have about 20 minutes until we are driving back to 15,000 feet on Cayambe, then around midnight we will get up and go for the summit. I´ll probably get to do a post tomorrow after our summit attempt. Hopefully all goes well and I will be able to post some good news tomorrow! (or the next day).